Former Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has been arrested by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) officers.
Najib Balala was arrested alongside then PS Leah Gwiyo for the alleged fraudulent acquisition of public funds.
They were arrested late on Thursday, December 21 on allegations of procurement fraud related to the Tourism Fund illegally paying Ksh8.5 billion for the setting up of a satellite Utalii College in the coast region.
“The commission has been taking operation and this is after EACC received the concurrent from the Director of Public Prosecution to apprehend and arraign before the court the suspects in this Utalii case. This is a case where the suspects are alleged to have engaged in procurement fraud for the construction of Utalli College, Coast Branch,” an EACC official stated.
“So in custody, we have former Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, the former PS in that Ministry and two other persons. In total we have 16 suspects and shortly they will transported to the Anti-Corruption Court in Malindi because the matter occurred in that county,” he added.
According to EACC spokesperson, Joseph Odero, Managing Partner in a private company called West Consult Engineers, was also arrested alongside Najib and the then Tourism PS.
EACC’s probe revealed how some private consultants were contracted by the Tourism Fund to come up with architectural designs and drawings of the college and to supervise the main contractor.
The drawings and designs were approved at Ksh8.6 billion.
The tender for the construction of the Kenya Utalii College’s coast branch, later renamed Ronald Ngala Utalii College, was awarded in May 2013 at 8.9 billion shillings, compared to the approved cabinet amount of 1.948 billion.
The EACC recommended five counts of willful failure to comply with procurement laws, as read in conjunction with the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003, four counts of unlawful acquisition of public property, and one count of abuse of office.
